What to see and do in Cali, Colombia

This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).

You hear Cali first, w hether it’s the infectious anthems that spill from its cafes or the hypnotic pulse of its clubs. A short hop southwest from the Colombian capital, Bogotá, this tropical metropolis has been electrifying dance-lovers since Puerto Rican and Cuban musicians arrived via New York in the 1970s, mambo grooves in tow. Cultural cross-pollination has shaped its food scene, too. The city was founded by the Spanish in the 1530s and its vibrant gastronomy draws on European, African and Indigenous roots, a heritage showcased during August’s Petronio Álvarez music festival when Cali’s streets vibrate with Afro-Pacific percussion.

In San Antonio, Cali’s oldest neighbourhood, aspiring salseros (salsa dancers) can perfect their skills with classes at SalsaPura, one of the city’s many dance schools. Put your moves into practice at MalaMaña or La Caldera del Diablo, two underground salsa bars in the Centro district, where sweat-soaked couples whirl in mesmeric synchrony not far from the area’s neo-gothic churches and churning clubs such as La Pérgola Clandestina.

Get the backstory on salsa caleña, the wickedly fast dance style born in the city, at the Museo de la Salsa in Barrio Obrero, where an all-singing, all-dancing tour explores how salsa rhythms passed from Cuba to Cali. Alternatively, delve into salsa’s fascinating history on a guided nighttime tour of the city’s clubs with Cali Salsa Experience — the safest and most immersive way of exploring somewhere best traversed by taxi after dark. Prefer to leave dancing to the professionals? Grab a table at El Mulato Cabaret, where star-spangled bailadores (dancers) move so fast their legs become a scintillating blur.

All that dancing works up an appetite. Inside one of San Antonio’s grand colonial houses, Domingo spotlights indigenous ingredients cultivated by rural communities across Colombia’s southwest. Across the river, at Restaurante Ringlete, award-winning chef Martha Jaramillo recreates traditional Colombian Pacific dishes with a slow-food ethos, serving up encocado, a coconutty seafood stew, and crisp empanadas with dollops of zingy ají sauce. To find other local ingredients, head south to Galería Alameda market, where family-run Rellenas Carolina dishes up fermented-corn tamales and rellena, a richly flavoured blood sausage.

No trip to Cali would be complete without enjoying the mellifluous tones of renowned Afro-Pacific musician Nidia Góngora or sampling viche — a liquor traditionally distilled from sugarcane by local Afro-Colombian communities. At Viche Positivo, Nidia’s intimate marketside restaurant, you can do both. Enjoy a glass before browsing for souvenirs at nearby shop La Linterna, where clanking 19th-century presses produce eye-catching posters featuring retro viche designs.

For a laidback day, head to the Cali River banks to pick up a lulada — a drink made from ice, sour lulo fruit and sugar — from one of the vendors along Boulevard del Río and wander towards Granada, a leafy neighbourhood studded with artisanal cafes and boutiques selling Colombian-made clothes and jewellery. Café Gardenia does a delicious vegan banana bread; take a slice out into the courtyard, where lime-green parakeets dance between rose-apple trees. Cali throngs with flora and fauna thanks in part to its proximity to Los Farallones de Cali National Park. Spiky iguanas dash across lawns, wispy orchids wrap around trees like scraps of satin and just outside the city, in the Jardín Botánico de Cali, flamboyant bromeliads and glossy anthuriums bloom in a rare patch of dry tropical forest.

Back in San Antonio, Criollan Lovers serves adventurous cocktails with viches, mezcal and other Latin American spirits, paired with stirring music on weekends. At dusk, wind up the hill of Parque San Antonio — crowned by an 18th-century chapel — to watch the sunset and listen to salsa anthems rising from the city; siren songs enticing you back for another night on the town.

Three highlights not to miss in Cali

1. La Pérgola Clandestina
This three-storey nightclub ranks among the best in the world. Party-goers get down to a mix of reggaeton, salsa, house and R&B before heading to the roof terrace for fresh air and shots of aguardiente, Colombia’s firewater.

2. Cali Salsa Experience
Blending history and hedonism, these carefully curated tours introduce Cali through its songs, with stops at museums and record shops. Explore the clubs of Barrio Obrero or let a professional dancer whip you around La Calle del Sabor, a salsa party in the city centre.

3. Domingo
In a restaurant canopied by foliage, chef Catalina Vélez serves inventive dishes featuring indigenous produce such as piangua, a mollusc harvested from Colombia’s mangrove forests. Domingo also hosts special evenings in collaboration with top chefs from the region.

How to do it:
Fly direct to Bogotá then take a one-hour flight to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport. Stay at Movich Casa del Alférez in Granada. Doubles from 467,460 COP (£96), B&B.

This story was created with the support of Cali’s Tourist Board and ProColombia.

Published in the Jul/Aug 2024 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).

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